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Heart-in-the-Lodge 



'All a Mistake 



A. McGr BEEDE 

AUTHOR OF 

•SITTING BULL-CUSTER" 




COPYRIGHT 



E^9 



DAKOTA 

(A "Dakota" Mating-Dance Song, in the "Dakota" time- 
rythm. Each fifth line a male voice solo repeat.) 

The big Man-in-the-Moon is liigh leaping, 
The gay tomtom is drumming quick time; 

The glad stars dance a polka. 

Over rose-clad Dakota; 
The Missouri is singing sweet chime; 
Ha-ha-ha, ha, the tomtom's quick time, 
Ha-ha-ha, ha, the river's sweet chime; 
Hah'-ha-ha-, ha, Dakota, ha ha. 

The young maidens are coming shy tripping. 
Who is shooting the love-waking darts, 

In the starlight so ready, 

With his bowstring so steady. 
To awaken the maidens' sweet hearts? 
Ha-ha-ha, ha, the love-waking darts, 
Ha-ha-ha, ha, maidens' sweet hearts; 
Hah'-ha-ha-, ha, Dakota, ha ha. 

The big Man-in-the-Moon is sly peeping. 
At the summertime love-waking star; 

He is slapping his knee, 

He is shouting in glee, 
"Love is better than war-cUibs, ha ha!" 
Ha-ha-ha, ha, the love-waking star; 
Ha-ha-ha, lia, Dakota, ha, ha, 
Hah'-ha-ha-, ha, Dakota, ha ha. 

— A. McG. Beede. 



mn 2 I9l5 

CI,A;i<J1971. 



PREFACE 

Thanks to all for the kind reception of mj^ "Sitting Bull- 
Custer" (out of print till another edition). 

This drama, Heart-in-the-Lodge, is not difficult to play. 
Players, generally, should be of the race before whom the 
playing is done. 

Do not misunderstand the tent scene in "Curtain I." No 
violence was done the men in the tent. I have written the 
scene faithfully. 

The men of Ellendale heard the Indians tell the story of 
the "Whitestone Battle," on which this drama is based. The 
conference was long with questions freely asked and answer- 
ed. Living with these Indians, I have heard their free con- 
versations about the battle, enough to make books. 

Did they intend "to make a night attack on Sully's army?" 
One who knows them will not believe it. Under any circum- 
stances they would not make a night attack when "the moon 
was not right," and at this time "the moon was not right." 

They had no part in the "Minnesota Massacre" in '62. They 
were at home planting and harv^esting and hunting meat and 
wild fruits by the Missouri River, where they had lived for 
125 years. Their tribal motto was "Quit war, plant the fields" 
(Wokicizeayustan, wozupo). 

After the massacre a desire for revenge obsessed White peo- 
ple. A murder by an Indian is chargeable to all Indians and 
is unforgivable. The first book published in America (1634) 
speaks of Indians as generally peacable. One hundred years 
later an Indian murdered a White man in Groton, Mass., and 
so a bounty was offered for Indian scalps. "Captain" Love- 
well was soon paid eleven bounties. The purpose was to 
scare Indians out of New Hampshire and Maine so the fron- 
tier could expand. 

After the "Minnesota Massacre" General Sibley went from 
Minnesota west pursuing the retreating Santee (Sioux) In- 
dians till they escaped across the Missouri. General Sully 
went from the south up the Missouri to cut off their escape 
across the river. Poor man, he was late, and so the Santees 
escaped. Sibley's promptness left Sully late. Sully's boats 
perplexed him. The Missouri was^.'low water," and he lacked 
the civilian boldness to let a few hundred detached horsemen 



go on ahead living from buffalo meat, frontier stj^le. This 
would have trapped the Santees, for their warriors had no 
discipline. It was 13 years later when 400 Sioux with Gall and 
400 Sheyennes with Crazy-Horse had sufficient discipline to hurl 
themselves onto Custer as a unit, and 900 warriors with Red- 
Cloud fought Crook to a standstill with his 1900 "regulars." 
Indians were learning discipline when the failure of buffalo 
meat and starvation made them "reservation Indians." 

Sully knew Pope would blame him — and he did. What 
could he do but take any Indian trail he saw and find some 
Indians? The Hunk-pa-ti (Sioux) Indians had recently gone 
from Long Lake (down river from Bismarck), where Sully 
had now arrived, to Bigstone Lake, 20 miles northwest of 
Ellendale. He saw their trail and took it. Up to this day 
these Indians had not had any trouble with White men. Now 
they will have trouble enough. The drama tells the story. 
It is to be plaj'ed by a community, unmindful of "the audi- 
ence." 

Several men now living heard SuUj^ say, "The battle was 
all a mistake." Sil)ley was a resolute frontiersman, inclined 
to be over-prompt. He sav/ the necessity for order and gov- 
ernment, though he knew justice for Indians was impossible. 
I understand he said, "Bad faith on the part of some White 
people has caused this uprising, and now I am sent out to 
kill Indians." Indians knew^ him personally, and they say 
lie was not "a man with murder in his heart." General Sil)- 
ley had no part in the attack on these Hunk-pa-ti Indians and 
the "Whitestone Battle." 



CURTAIN I 

THE INDIANS FLEE AWAY 

The Scene. A tall granite shaft erected on a hill twenty 
miles northwest of Ellendale, N. D., is visible from a long dis- 
tance away. Here the Hunk-pa-ti Indians (a Sioiiian tribe) 
were in their summer home around "Bigstone Lake." 

The stage has tents clearly visible on the right, with peo- 
ple, children and dogs, and campfires by them. 

In the center of the stage, back from the front, beneath a 
skeleton wicker booth, there are four singers witli a tom- 
tom and a drummer, who occasionally taps the tomtom, and 
conversation is free. 

An old Indian enters, starts "tlie sacred fire" with cedar- 
tree twigs at the right of the booth. With arms outstretched, 
palms down, he gesticulates with arms and bending body to- 
ward "the sacred fire," then with palms upward, and so erect 
that he bends backward, he gesticulates reverently toward the 
heavens. Then he disappears, leaving "the sacred fire" to 
quickly burn out. 

As the "Fire-maker" retires the old l)lind "Herald" enters, 
calling out musically. He goes around the stage, leaving where 
he appeared. He supports himself with a cane in his right 
hand, and a little girl leads him by a cane in his left hand. 

OLD BLIND HERALD (sonorously) 

Ho-po, ho-po! The buffalo dance, the sacred 
biifTalo dance! The living shadow, moving, glid- 
ing, marks the time. Listen, listen, hast<% haste! 
The dancing and singing make human hear Is 
kind. The tomtom quick music gives people good- 
cheer. Haste, haste! Great Spirit draws near. 
Dance merrily, sing cheerfully. Softly and ten- 
derly, loudly, courageously, the tomtom sweet 
music goes up to the sky. 

(Many phrases are repeated.) 

As the blind "Herald" leaves, the tomtom music and the 
singing start, softly at first and then louder with a rythm- 
accent impressing one with the sense of vastness. And the 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

men and women (normally in pairs), glide onto and around 
the siage from rignt to left, and just before the circle is 
completed Hiyoke darts to the center, by the booth. The cir- 
cle now formed, they dance in a gliding sidestep movement 
round and round while all, especially the women, dance up 
and down with the elasticity of their bodies, as a Prussian 
lady curtseys. The dancing, at first soft and easy, quickly 
takes on energy in harmony with the sense of vastness in 
the tomtom music. Hiyoke and the singers sing without 
words, but when the dance has full "swing" and energy, Hi- 
yoke with gestures sings in words. 

HIYOKE (singing) 

The hail came doAvn like rolling stars. 

The waterfloods were pouring. 

The lightning leaped across the fields, 

The rushing winds were roaring. 

The pumpkins, corn and beans and flowers 

Were gone before we knew it. 

The oaktree, groaning, leapt and fell 

Where laughing whirlwinds blew^ it. 

The buffalo, our sacred friends. 

Will give us meat enough. 

When winter storms are blowing cold. 

And northwinds leap and puff. 

Look, look, the piles of buffalo meat, 

Too big for eyes to measure! 

When winter fires are burning bright, 

This food will give us pleasure. 

(The "Fire-man" has slipped into the circle, and standing 
where the fire was, he gesticulates as before, and all the peo- 
ple sing the following together in words, with prolonged pro- 
nounciation, and a musical "hold" at the end of each phrase.) 

The buffalo, the buffalo, 

The sacred buffalo; 

The buffalo, the buffalo, 

We praise, we praise the buffalo! 

(A pause in the singing, but not in the dancing, while the 
"Fire-maker" again gesticulates, then all join in the follow- 
ing. Each half-line has two mellow tomtom strokes, and a 
sharp pause.) 

6 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

The sacred lire. The sacred fire, 
Up high, up high — still higher, higher; 
He gives us Life — ^He is our Sire, 
The Life, the lire — the sacred fire! 

(A messenger rushes in calling sonorously with the voice- 
tone of the scared coyotes. (The coyotes were the Indians' 
"outer guard watchdogs.") As the messenger reaches the 
scene, he turns looking away and cries out. 

MESSENGER (loudly intoning) 

Ho-o-o-o ! Ho-o-o-o ! (Music and dance stop.) 

A YOUNG MAN 

What! What is it? 

MESSENGER (sonorously) 

The enemy! The enemy! 

OLD MAN 

We have no enemies. 

xMESSENGER (with all energy) 

The enemy! The enemy! The enemy! Look! 
Look away on the hill! I see them. I feel them! 

OLD MAN (looking) 

They are White people, always friendly to our 
people. 

MESSENGER 

Look, see the shadow-men coming on ahead of 
them! They look grim! They mean evil! They 
fill me with fear! The sacred dance gave me a 
vision (wihanbde). I was sleeping when one of 
their shadows came and tried to kill me. The 
enemy! The enemy! Get ready to fight, or make 
haste to flee! 

OLD MAN 

Yes, they may mean us harm. Everything has 
changed since the massacre in Minnesota by the 
Santees. We hear that the White people have 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

gone crazy, and their hearts arc full of murder. 
Two old Santees have come to us from Minnesota. 
They say that when the White men were hauling 
Santees in carts to hang them, the White women 
were so crazy that they stahhed them with knives, 
cut them with hatchets and poured hoiling water 
onto them. Perhaps our old friends, the White 
men, are coming here to do us harm. 

CHIEF TW^O-BEAh (who has arrived) 

We will send messengers, to iind out what they 
want. Have them come and dance wdth us, and 
feast with us, and sing with us, and smoke the 
sacred i)ipe with us, and then their hearts will 
feel good. Unless they are worse than Tetons 
we can make peace with them, if we are hearty 
and careful. 

OLD WOMAN 

We will give them blankets and food to carry 
liome. 

CHIEF TWO-BEAR 

And give them a few of our sacred things to 
make them feel peacable. 

HIYOKE (singing and dancing) 

Don't give white men our sacred turtles 
To make their wives still more prolific; 
For their unmeasured big tent-circles 
Already make them feel bombastic. 

(A woman hits Hiyoke with a stick, and he darts away, 
soon reappearing and listening.) 

A YOUNG MAN 

If these White men are making war on the 
Santees, have them come and see, see with their 
eyes that we are tiot Santees. We are Hunk-pa-ti. 
We are corn-raisers like the Mandans and the 
Arikaras. (Arikara means Cornsheller.) 

8 



HEAR T-IN-THE- LODGE 

CHIEF TWO-BEAR 

See, see! What is it to see? Mad men can- 
not see. Men believe what they feel in their 
hearts. Goodness in the heart is like the rain- 
bow, it makes the earth green, and the clouds 
beautiful. 

A YOUNG MAN 

Young men are here. Let us go and find out 
what these White men want. 

CHIEF TWO-BEAR 

And old men will go witli you also. Be friend- 
ly in the meeting, but do not show fear. If they 
want clothing and food, we will give it to them. 
If they want a battle we will flee away. All to 
your tents and make ready. Let the "Herald" call 
out the orders. 

(All leave the stage but tlie Chief and a few more. The old 
blind "Herald," moving and led as before, calls out in a musi- 
cal stentorian voice. (I have heard such an Indian "Herald" 
two miles.) 

HERALD (calling sonorously) 

At-ten-tion! At-ten-tion ! All to the tents! All 
to the tents! Haste, haste! Each family pack up 
the few best things! Save the things on which 
our life depends! Make ready! Make ready! 
Hasten like birds Hying to the woods before a cy- 
clone coming! Help the old people! Help wom- 
en with babies! Helj) lame people! Do not for- 
get the sacred things! Do not forget the house- 
hold turtles! Do not forget the bows and bow- 
strings! Do not forget the fire-flints! Do not 
forget young babies in the cradles! Do not for- 
get the little dogs too young to bark! And if you 
flee, do not forget the old l^lind "Herald." 

(A few men enter, joining the Chief and his men.) 
CHIEF TWO-BEAR 

You ten men will go as messengers. Others will 
Follow and remain nearby. Make haste. Be 
careful and wise. Show no fear. 



HEART -IN- T HE-LODGE 

(The ten men depart, leaving the Chief with three men on 
the stage. A youth comes running, out of breath.) 

YOUTH 

Three White men just in sight out of a ravine 
are coming straight to our village. Some think 
they are old trappers, and some think they are 
spies from the army of White men. 

CHIEF TWO-BEAR 

Open wide this tent right here. We will be 
friendly with them. 

(They lift up the side of one of the tents. As the men come 
the young men shake hands with them awkwardly, and an 
old man embraces each White man old Indian style, by throw- 
ing arms around nis shoulders and rubbing his face on the 
White man's face (Poskin yuza). The Wnite men awkward- 
ly return this Poskin-yuza salutation. The White men, with 
sign language, are seated in the rear part of the tent, the 
place of honor. All leave the tent but the Chief. A little In- 
dian girl, a child, comes to the White men, bringing plums 
which they receive, and give her pretty trinkets. They pet 
the child, and the Chief with moist eyes and a smile points 
to Great Spirit, to his heart and to their hearts, because this 
petting the child is, as he supposes, a pledge that they have 
no evil intent to the Indians' homes.) 

FIRST MAN 

Slic is pretty and sweet as a rose. 

SECOND MAN 

She makes me think of my little girl at home. 

THIRD MAN 

It's wicked to l)()ther these poor devils; why not 
let them alone? 

SECOND MAN 

Well, how many warriors are there do you 
think? We must do our spying. That's what we 
are here for. 

FIRST MAN 

I don't see anything looks like a man spoiling 
for a fight. • 

10 



HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

THIRD MAN 

There's nothing round here looks much like a 
warrior. 

FIRST MAN 

They simply want to be let alone, that's about 
the size of it. 

SECOND MAN 

What the devil's the use trying to make White 
men out of them. Why not give them a piece of 
this big country and let them be Indians? 

(The child leaves the tent and the man who has spoken of 
his little girl at home sheds a tear. Old Indians enter and 
make "the sacred fire." Then the oldest man lights the sac- 
red pipe and holds it to the Heavens and to the Earth and to 
the West, North, East, and South. Then, when he has taken 
a couple of whiffs, the pipe goes to the Chief and to each of 
the old men, who take a couple whiffs. W^hile this is going 
on the White-men, knowing tliey are not understood by In- 
dians, converse.) 

FIRST MAN 

What sort of a heathen ceremony is this? 

THIRD MAN 

Safer to keep out of it. It seems mighty sol- 
emn. 

SECOND MAN 

They'll have me married to a squaw before 1 
know it. I've heard of such things. If I was 
unmarried I wouldn't mind it, with that sweet 
little girl thrown in. 

(They offer the sacred pipe to the white men who gently 
refuse it with hand gestures. The Indians pointing to the 
Great Spirit and to their hearts, urge the White men to take 
the pipe, but they refuse it, thus putting themselves in the 
attitude of spies who have been bold even to the point of 
sharing the tent, while not wanting peace. Again they are 
urged to take the pipe, but they refuse it. Then the Indians 
show anger. Other j^oung Indians come, in anger. The White 
men attempt to leave their seats, but are not allowed to do 
so. The pipe is laid before their feet, indicating Divine 

11 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

wrath to them if tncy make war after accepting the hospital- 
ity of the home. Tomahawks ;>■•" hrandished in their faces, 
Indians come with Hudson Bay axes, and whet them before 
their faces. They are offered the pipe once more, and when 
they refuse it, it is laid at their feet, and as all the Indians 
but a half dozen go out, the tent is closed tight.) 

HIYOKE (looking, dancing and singing) 

The messengers will not go far, 

The White men come this way; 
Their flag has many a stripe and star, 

And they are quick and gay. 
Perhaps the "Captain's" voice is wheezy 

From sleeping out of doors. 
And so he wants to hear my singing 

To cheer him while he snores. 
But ril not go to see the captain, 

I'll let him come to me. 
For I can sing the old songs hetter 

Beside my own tepee. 

(Hiyoke looks awaj', and then hides behind a bush. A 
"Captain" and soldiers and a half-blood Indian interpreter en- 
ter. Indian messengers enter and meet them, awkwardly 
shaking hands with tlie White men.j 

AX LXDIAX (to the Captain") 

What do our friends, the White men want? 
We wish to make them Iiappy. 

IXTEHPHKTEK ( officiously) 

The "Ca])tain" does not know your language. 1 
know 3^om^ language and the ''Captain's" language. 
I am the interpreter. The "Captain" tells me 
what to say. What are you doing here? 

YOUXG IXDIAX 

We are getting ready for winter. 

OLD IXDIAX 

The storms destroyed our fields hy the Missouri 
Biver. There were never such storms hefore. We 
must get ready for winter, and may Great Spirit 
help us. ^ 

12 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 



INTERPRETEH 



We are looking for Santees who made the mas- 
sacre in Minnesota. 



YOUNG INDIAN 



Why do you turn away from following the 
Santees and come here to us? We are not San- 
tees, we are Hunk-pa-ti. 

INTERPRETER 

Are there any Indians hesides Hunk-pa-ti In- 
dians here? 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

Yes, there are thirty Yankton Indians here. 
They have come to hunt with us. Big-Head is 
their Chief. Do you wish to see him? 

INTERPRETER 

Who is your Chief? What other Indians are 
here besides Yanktons? Where were you last be- 
fore you came here? 

YOUNG INDIAN 

A wolf has a head, and a body and a tail. When 
a man asks three questions in one breath, he is 
like a wolf humped up into a badger to deceive 
prairie dogs and catch them. 

INTERPRETER 

Answer the questions. The "Captain" demands 
it. 

YOUNG INDIAN 

You followed our trail from Long Lake. Why do 
3^ou ask where we came from? You know we 
are Hunk-pa-ti by our faces, tell it to the "Cap- 
tain." You know our Chief is Two-Bear, tell that 
to the "Captain." 

OLD INDIAN 

There are two Santees here; they are with me 
in my tent. Does the "Captain" wish to see them 
with his eyes? 

13 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

INTERPRETER 

Oil, Santees with you! This looks suspicious. 

A YOUNG INDIAN (angrily) 

Why? 

INTERPRETER 

No doubt they ran away to you from Minne- 
sota, after tliey helped kill women and children in 
their houses! 

OLD INDIAN 

They are old men. One is lame in both legs, 
one is blind in one eye, and he has a goitis on his 
neck. It makes him breath, "e-e-he-e-e-he-e-e-he," 
when he walks. I don't see how he can run. He 
couldn't kill a jackrabbit unless the jackrabbit at- 
tacked him. 

INTERPRETER 

Oh, yes, perhaps they became disabled (hunke- 
sni) fighting in Minnesota. What other wounded 
Santees have you here? 

OLD INDIAN 

These two are all. They are all we picked up. 
Old men, old men! Old men "hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-you" 
in the twilight, and think of the good land 
(makoce-waste) where Great Spirit is merciful. 
Old men do not fight! 

OTHER OLD INDIAN 

We found them over beyond the James i liver 
starving. Great Spirit told us to feed theiv fliey 
say they left Minnesota as fast as they could last 
spring, because they were afraid White-men 
would kill them. 

INTERPRETER (emphatically) 

And what other Santees have you taken hi out 
of pity? 

OLD INDIAN (sharply) 

No, these two are all. They are all we found. 
If we had found more starving men, we should 

14 • 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

have given them food. This is Great Spirit's law. 
Does not the "Captain" know Great Spirit's law? 

INTERPRETER 

The "Captain" knows his own business. A holy 
man put holy water on his head, and that makes 
him wise and religious. Have you seen Santees 
fleeing away before the big army of General Sib- 
ley? 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

No, we did not see it. Some of us up north 
hunting saw the big army of White men going 
back home, and the Santee warriors were follow- 
ing them. 

INTERPRETER 

And did 3^our warriors help the Santee war- 
riors ? 

OLD INDIAN 

We have no warriors. Great Spirit taught us a 
song (singing) : "Leave off war, till the soil, till 
the soil." (Okicize ayustan po, wo ju po, wo ju po). 

OTHER OLD INDIAN 

We have no war feast. Instead of the war feast 
we have "The Feast of Corn," which we learned 
from the Mandans. 

INTERPRETER 

You have war songs, don't lie ! 

OLD INDIAN 

No, we have no war songs. We know a few war 
songs which men from other tribes sing. In the 
old times our fathers had war songs. 

OTHER OLD INDIAN 

Since we have forgotten our war songs, we 
have no wars, except a few quarrels which are 
nothing. The music of the Missouri River run- 
ning past our fields, and the music of the corn 
growing in our fields is sweeter than war songs. 

15 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

YOUNG INDIAN 

We have no guns, except eighteen curious tilings, 
some way so long — and some so short (using 
hands and arms), and we cannot make fire in 
them. We hunt with bows and arrows. 

INTERPRETER 

Where did you get these eighteen guns? 

YOUNG INDIAN 

From Santees. 

INTERPRi'TER 

When 3^ou were up north hunting? 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Yes, they gave us these guns when we gave them 
buffalo meat and pemmican. 

INTERPRETER 

Why did they give you guns instead of other 
presents? 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Why does a fox want meat and not grass, tell 
me that. When a man makes a present he gives 
whatever he wants to. 

INTERPRETER 

You talk like an Indian. 

YOUNG INDIAN 

You try to talk like a wise man. How does any 
man know why a man or a beast or a bird wants 
one thing and does not want another thing? 

OLD INDIAN 

You may have the eighteen guns if you need 
them. They are rusty and old. We like to look at 
them, but you may have them if you think the 
Santees stole them. 

INTERPRETER 

Did the Santees give you any other presents? 

16 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

Or.l) INDIAN 

Yes, they gave my son some strange tilings. 

INTERPRETER 

Strange things; what are tliey? 

OLD INDIAN 

I don't know. I tliink they are sacred tilings 
which White people use in worship. They are 
round like stars. They are yellow like the sun- 
set, and each one has a man on it like the man in 
the sun. 

INTERPRETER (quickly) 

Give them to me. 

(The old Indian gives him an envelope with gold coins and 
gold-dust in it. The Interpreter passes them to the "Captain," 
and he and the "Captain" converse in a low tone.) 

INTERPRETER 

Where did these things come from? 

OLD INDIAN 

I thought White people knew where they came 
from. We do not know. We think they fell down 
from the stm, and dust crumbled off when they 
Iiit the earth. 

INTERPRETER 

Now the "Captain" is sure that you are wicked, 
wicked people, or you would not have these 
tilings. Tell the truth, where did you get them? 

OLD INDIAN 

I told you the Santees gave them to my son. 
He gave a wounded Santee his horse, because he 
pitied him, and he gave him these strange things. 
If it is wicked to have them we will throw them 
away, or else the storms may destroy our fields 
again. 

17 



HEART -IN- r HE-LODGE 

INTEHPRKTEK 

These things were stolen from a boat eoniing 
down the Missouri River a month ago, just after 
General Sibley's army turned baek from pursu- 
ing the Santees. All the white people in the boat 
were killed, men women and children. The boat 
was sunk in the river. You people must have 
done that wicked deed. Tell us the truth. 

OLD INDIAN 

No, we do not want such things. We do not 
use such things. We do not have boats. We 
cross rivers swimming, or hanging onto the tails 
of ponies. 

OTHER OLD INDIANS 

Do these sacred images make the boats go on 
the river? We thought the fire made the boats 
go, and so we call the boats fire-boats (peta- 
wata). 

INTERPRETER 

How many more of these things have you got? 

OLD INDIAN 

No. These three are all, and we do not want 
them. 

INTERPRETER 

White people kill each other to get these things. 
Did you not kill the people on the boat? 

OLD INDIAN 

We heard that the people on the boat made 
fire with big guns to kill the Santees, and so the 
Santees killed them. We did not know these 
things were used to run the boat with. We did 
not know they were in the boat. It is good to 
have big boats and to have these sacred things 
to run the boats with. But if these sacred things 
make White people kill each other, it is better 
to throw these things and the boats away and 
go foot or stay at home. 

18 



HE ART -I N-T HE-LODGE 

INTERPRETER 

These are the very hest things in the world. 
White people have hecome a great people be- 
cause they have them. Wicked people kill each 
other for them, (iood men make them, or buy 
them. 

OLD INDIAxN 

How many bufit'alo skins does one of them cost? 

INTERPRETER (laughing) 

Oh, ten or twenty, if they are good ones. 

YOUNG INDIAN (angrily) 

Why do you laugh at the old man? Why do 
you make fun of him? You know^ it is impolite. 
You are an Indian and you were brought up to 
be polite like an Indian, not rude like the w^hite 
trappers who come up the river. Of course the 
old man does not know all the white men's cus- 
toms. Since you are with White men 3'ou have 
become impolite. You make yourself big (tanka- 
nici-da). You make yourself bigger than the 
"Captain." And the bigger you make yourself, 
the bigger liar you are. 

INTERPRETER 

How do you know so much about the war in 
Minnesota, the way the Santees tell it? Are you 
a San tee? 

YOUNG INDIAN 

They told us this when we saw them up north. 
We asked them all about the w^ar, and they told 
us. Why do you call me a Santee when you 
know by ni}^ face I am a Hunk-pa-ti? I am not 
ashamed of my people. We are not warriors 
like the Santees and the Tetons, but wc are re- 
spectable people who attend to our own affairs. 

INTERPRETER 

And do you believe what the Santees told you 
about the war? 

19 



HEART -IN- r HE-LODGE 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Yes, I do. Fire-water and wicked thieving 
White men caused the war. Why don't you ex- 
plain these things to the "Captain"? You are 
a traitor to your own people. You are an un- 
civil dog. (He strikes him with a whip.) 

INTERPRETER (biting his teeth) 

The "Captain" says you must all surrender 
immediately, men, women and children, tents and 
everything. 

OLD INDIAN 

If we surrender, will they hang the men, and 
have the families for themselves? 

(Many Indians gather around the "Captain" and his men, 
brandishing knives and tomahawks.) 

INTERPRETER 

The general, back over the hill, has an army 
big enough to kill all of you, and many more. If 
you do not surrender, he will come and fight 
with you. His men have guns, you have noth- 
ing but bows. His men have swift horses, you 
have nothing but dogs and small ponies. You 
are not warriors like the Tetons. The Tetons 
despise you. They let you live along the river 
and raise corn so they can come and buy it when 
they want it. And sometimes they steal your 
corn. Does a man steal from his friend? The 
Tetons are not yoiu* friends. The White men are 
your true friends. You are the slaves of the 
Tetons and the Gutheads. The White men will 
make you free men. The White men will not 
steal from you. What you raise out of the ground 
they will buy, and pay for it. But first of all you 
must surrender. 

(Note: This speech, witli its good promises, and its unen- 
durable harsh tone counteracting all the good in it, does not 
exaggerate the interjji-etations Indian ears heard at this time 
and for many years after. If Indians had known our lan- 

20 • 



HEART -IN- r HE-LODGE 

guage or we theirs, what a difference! White men, with pa- 
tience and "Sprachansicht" like German students, should have 
been sent by the government to learn each languagL" with its 
thought, feeling and throb.) 

OLD INDIAN 

No, let US have a council. We will choose men 
to meet men from the army and consi^ler every- 
thing. 

INTERPRETER 

There is no reason for a council. If we wait 
for a council, perhaps you will run away. 

OLD INDIAN 

We could not run very fast with our children 
and our tents and our property (woyuha). We 
will give our Cliief and our honorable old men 
to the "Captain," and he can keep them till after 
the council. If he can tind more than two San- 
tees with us, or if we have done the White peo- 
ple any wrong, let the army punish us. We can- 
not surrender till we know what is going to be 
done with us. 

(An old Indian, having lighted the sacred pipe and held it 
ceremonially to the Heavens, the Earth, the West, North, East 
and South, offers it to the interpreter, saying) : 

OLD INDIAN 

Smoke this pipe, and tell the "Ca])tain" to 
smoke it and let its truthful spirit testify in his 
heart whether or not what we are saying is true. 

INTERPRETER (with a hand motion) 

Away with the pipe, the "Captain" does not 
want it. 

OLD INDIAN 

Oh, has he no reverence for Great Spirit? Alas! 
(He-he-he!) 

INTERPRETER 

Well, are you going to surrender or fight? 

31 



HE ART -IN -T HE-LODGE 

OLD INDIAN (after having tried to talk with the "B Cap- 
tain" in sign hmguage in vain.) 

Oh, he does not know the sacred language 
which all Indians in this island know, and the 
interpreter does not explain to him what we 
mean. Alas! 

INTERPRETKH 

You insult me. What I say goes. 

YOUNG INDIAN (jerking him l)y the arm.) 

It goes, does it? 

OTHER YOUNG INDIAN 

What wrong haYe we done these men? Why 
ha Ye they come so far from home to light and 
die? What bitter sorrows till their hearts, aiul 
so they go away to fight and die because the sa- 
cred law forbids suicide? 

OTHER YOUNG INDIAN 

He does not tell anything honestly to the "Cap- 
tain." Let us whip him! 

(Indians who have heen threatening the "(Captain" and his 
men now turn attention to the interpreter. While they are 
pushing him to the right of the stage, the "Captain" says, 
''We will go to the hill where our troops are and hold our 
ground till the general comes, Indians or no Indians," and 
they leave the stage (left). They whip the interpreter un- 
mercifully. By a sudden lunge he hreaks away from them 
and dashes away (left) calling out:) 

INTERPRETER 

I will haYe rcYcnge for this! 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Pursue him ! Kill him ! 

(The young men rush from the stage (left). Chief Two- 
Bears enters (right.)) 

CHIEE T\YO-BEARS 

A battle is coming unless we can get away. The 
three white men iii the tent are spies, but tliey 

33 • 



H E A R T -IN -THE-LODG E 

have not smoked the pipe with us, and so tliey 
are not traitors. Open up the tent and let them 
go and liave a man's chance for life. 

(The tent is quickly opened up, showing each man f()rcil)ly 
held, seated on the earth, while a man hrandishes a whetted 
Hudson's Bay axe over his head. Then they are lifted up and 
rushed out of the tent and let go, while manj' shout "SSH'EE- 
K'DA PO"— DOGS! BE GONE! The three men glide away 
from view, not crossing the stage.) 

OLD INDIAN (looking) 

The interpreter has mounted his horse, and he 
is speeding away like the wind. They have sent 
him over the hill to tell the general what has hap- 
pened and other men are following him on swift 
horses. Our young men did not follow him far. 
They are coming hack, right here. 

(The young men enter the stage.) 
OLD INDIAN 

Young men are fools. 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Our hearts cannot hear everything. 

OLD INDIAN 

He will tell everything wrong to the general, 
and make up more besides. 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Well, are w^e going to stay here like prairie dogs 
driven out of their homes by rattlesnakes to be 
eaten up by coyotes, or what. 

CHIEF TWO-BEARS 

Tell the "Herald" to announce that all will 
pack up a few things hastily and tlee away by 
the old trail to the James River. 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Are we going to be cowards? Let us fight and 
die. 

23 



HEAR T-IN-THE- LODGE 

OTHER VOrXd INDIAN 

Let the young iiicii light and die, it is better 
tlian to he hanged. 

OLD BLIND HERALD (led l)y the child as previously) 

Flee away! Flee away! Flee away! Be brave, 
be strong, pray and flee! Flee away east toward the 
rising sun! i'lee by the old trail out past the 
waterspring to the James River! Leave the tents 
behind! Take the dogs and i)onies and every- 
thing that ean walk! Take the sacred things and 
the few things needful to life. Leave the orna- 
ments and the luxuries behind. Don't leave the 
old people and the lame people behind, and don't 
forget the babies in the cradles. Be brave! Be 
brave! Be brave and young, as I am till I die! 

(All leave the stage hastily, and people can be just seen at 
the right of the stage packing and getting ready. Hijoke who 
has continuallj^ been looking from behind the bush, where he 
skulked, comes out and dances and sings.) 

HIYOKE 

When water covered ever^^ hill 

The wise old spider did not drown. 

He rolled himself into a pill. 

And tloated till the Hood went down. 

I wish I was a spider man, 

A spider man, a spider man. 

(Looking away). 

The white men's horses mope, I see. 
Their mules are lean like leafless trees; 
Their haughty general seems to be 
A turtle crawling on his knees. 
I wish I was a spider man, 
A spider man, a spider man. 
Whee! Like a morning prairie lire, 
Increasing in the noontide sun, 
They gallop now, and I'm a liar. 
Unless our tribesmen have to rim ! 
I wish 1 was a spider man, 
A spider man, a spider man. 

24 



HE ART- IN -THE -LODGE 

While Hiyoke continues dancing and humming the air of 
the song, the curtain falls. 

ihen when stage facilities permit, the curtain rises several 
times, showing the flight in a realistic way. Small ponies 
or dogs or hoth are hauling travois with papooses and other 
things on them. Dogs are running with hundles of dried meat 
and other tnings tied onto them. A few l)ig dogs have pa- 
pooses tied onto their l)acks. Little l)oys are riding dogs 
astride. Women with i)apooses on their hacks are trying to 
carry a lot of stuff l)esides. Some women are singing lulla- 
hies to their papooses, others are hitterly crying. Children 
run along, holding onto each other's hands, some screaming 
and some showing great sagacity. Some are lame and hob- 
bling. Some are praying. Some are yelling. They are try- 
ing to help each other in ways that hinder. All is a bedlam 
of confusion. One old man, holding the pipe to the sky, cries 
out: "Great Spirit, help us! Pity us poor creatures, O Thou 
who are the Life in everything. And Thou, O sacred Earth 
(holding the pipe to the Earth), help us today." 

Last of all comes the old blind 'Herald," led by the child, 
and sonorously shouting: 

"Breathe deeply, breathe the living air! All life, (Woniya) 
is in the living air and in the clouds and everywhere. Breathe 
deeply ! Breathe out all fear. Rise up, rise up above all 
fear ! Untie yourselves from fear, then if we die our souls 
will suffer nothing. Lead on, lead on, out past the water 
spring, over the hills to the old camping ground where the 
trees are tall and the wild artichokes grow." 



CURTAIN II 

GIVE ME WATER, WATER, WATER! 

Scene. A valley one mile southeast of the former place. A 
few Indians are in the valley with hills near on the North 
and South, and hills farther away on the West and East. 
More Iiulians enter the valley, the men armed with hows. 

AX OLD INDIAN 

This valley is the place for the battle. 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

No, no, they will kill us here like bufYalo driven 
over a blufi\ 

AN OLD INDIAN 

Here is the place to tight oft" the soldiers till 
darkness comes, and then escape. 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

The soldiers have cut oft' our escape. They are 
all around us. They will come uj) on top of the 
liills and kill us. The wicked iron-hunnners from 
their guns kill a man seven bowshots away, I have 
heard. 

AN OLD INDIAN 

Look! Tlie hills on the south and north are less 
than one bowshot away. If soldiers come up on- 
to these hills our arrows will reach them and 
drive them back, unless they are anxious to die. 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

Yes, but the hills up the valley, where the sun 
is setting, are only three bowshots away, and their 
iron-lunmners will reach us and kill us from 
these hills, whiU^ we cannol reach them with our 
arrows. 

26 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 



OTHER YOUNG INDIAN 



And the hills down the valley in the east, by 
our old trail out past the waterspring, are only 
two bowshots away. And from these hills every 
iron-hummer will kill one of us, while we are 
helpless, because one bowshot is not two bow- 
shots. 

OLD INDIAN 

Ugh! You are so excited that you cannot reck- 
on up numbers. Two and three do not make 
eight or seven. Two and three make only live. 
The soldiers in the West and the soldiers down 
the valley in the East will be only live bowshots 
apart. The iron-hummers kill a man seven bow- 
shots away. And so, when the soldiers begin to 
shoot, those up the valley and those down the 
valley will kill each other. And then the sol- 
diers in the East will move away South so that 
the big hills just South of us will protect them 
from the iron-hummers of their own brothers in 
the West. (Intoning). Look, look! I can see 
them leaving the East hills and going South! 
This leaves our old trail out past the waterspring 
unguarded, hi-ho-hi-ho! And the darkness is 
hiding us from all eyes but the eyes of Great Spir- 
it, good, good! And silently we are stealing away, 
stealing away! Ti-li-ii-li-ta-la-la-lu, ti-li-li- 
li-ta-la-la-lu! 

OTHER OLD INDIAN 

And look how thick the grass is here in the 
valley! We will lie on the ground like turtles 
in the grass, while their iron-hummers kill their 
own brothers, i)assing over us like hawks flying 
over green frogs in waterpools, k' boo, k' boo! 

HIYOKE (dancing and singing) 

Old men are for wisdom, old men are for prayer. 
Young men are for chasing the elk and the hare. 
Old women for telling the stories of old, 
Young women for beauty, for beauty untold. 

I wish I was a spider man, 

A spider man, a spider man. 



HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

OLD INDIAN 

Hiyokc, lie down snug to the ground and sing 
a melody, floating far away in the holy earth. 
Our trihesmen with their ears to the earth listen- 
ing, will hear it, and know where we are gath- 
ering in this valley, and they will come, 
unless (ireat Spirit has helped them escape. 

(He sings as directed while those present hum a little. 
Immediately the people hegin to come.) 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

Did any of the ])eople get away out past the 
watersj)ring? 

A WOMAN 

No, no, we hurried that way, and our escape 
was cut ofi' hy the soldiers on swift horses. Oh-he- 
he-he. (She cries.) 

OTHER WOMAN 

We turned South through the Gray-stone Hills 
Valley, and a lot of our people got away, but our 
escape was cut off. 

OLD INDIAN 

We heard Hiyoke singing the "Home-Return- 
Song," and so we have come. 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

Were many of our people killed over there in 
the Gray-stone Hills Valley? 

A WOMAN (crying) 

Yes, yes, a lot were killed, men, women and 
children. 

OTHER WOMAN 

An iron hunnner went through my little boy's 
head and split it wide open. (She shrieks awful- 
ly) 

A A\OMAN (consoling her) 

Ishta, islita, don't cry. Did he^ suffer? 

28 



HEART-IN -THE -LODGE 

WOMAN 

Oh, oh, they chased us so fast I couldn't pick 
up his hody. Oli, oh, oh! Ee-e-h'e, e-e-e-h'e! 

YOUNG INDIAN (running in ahead of others) 

They chased us over the flat, beyond the south 
hills. We turned West, trying to escape in that 
direction. We saw the soldiers on the West hills. 
Then we heard the music here, and so we are 
coming. 

(A volley is tired from the West.) 

OLD INDIAN (sonorously; 

All down ! All down ! Low, low ! Hide the 
children low in the grass like turtles. 

OLD INDIAN 

Sing softly the death dirge for the souls of those 
who are going to die. 

(They sing a death-dirge. "Simple Confessions," in a mi- 
nor key, is like an Indian death-dirge. "Return," by Petro, an 
Italian, is like an Indian "Home-Return" Song, only put a 
little minor key into it, and make the accent pronounced, and 
the tone falling at the end.) 

A YOUNG INDIAN (running in) 

The soldiers down the valley on the hills are 
moving away South, as the old man said they 
would. This leaves the old trail out past the 
waterspring unguarded and safe for us. As soon 
as darkness comes we can tlee away out past the 
waterspring and escape — those of us who are 
alive. 

MANY 

Good! Good! Good! 

(Several volleys are fired from the west.) 
OLD INDIAN (sonorously) 

Lie low! Be brave! Darkness is coming! 

A YOUNG INDIAN (running in) 

The soldiers are coming up onto the South 
hills right close to us. I la}^ there watching till 
they got near, then I came to give the news. 

29 



HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

OLD INDiAN 

Lie low! Be brave! Pray, pray, and lie low! 

OTHER OLD LNDLAX 

Bowmen, be ready with the arrows! Let your 
fingers be ready! Let your bowstrings be steady! 
Shoot hard! Shoot straight! And do not hurry, 
wait till you see a man's head ! 

(A vollej^ is fired and answered with arrows. Tlien a few 
more volleys are fired and answered with arrows.) 

A YOUNG INDIAN 

The soldiers are retreating! 

OLD INDIAN 

Too many wounded men so far away from home 
is bad for*^ them. They will not come again to- 
night. They will watch behind the hills till morn- 
ing. But we shall not be here in the morning. 
Be brave! Darkness is coming fast! 

OTHER OLD INDIAN 

Are many killed? 

A VOICE 

Six are killed and many are wounded here with 
us. All the women and children are brave. 

OLD INDIAN 

Get ready to flee away! Pick up the wounded 
people. 

YOUNG INDIAN 

Hold, hold! Lie low! Lie low! Down, down! 
Do not move! Soldiers are coming up on top of 
the north hills. Be ready with the arrows! Let 
every arrow kill a man ! 

(A few volleys are fired and answered with arrows.) 
• A YOUNG INDIAN 

Now the soldiers retreat. They do not like the 
arrows. They will not come again till morning. 

:u) 



HEART-IN-THE-LODGE, 

OLD INDIAN (sonorously) 

Listen! Listen! We t.re now sale ! All danger 
is past! 

(A woman shrieks and immediately the whole place is full 
of shrieking and wailing indescrihable.) 

HIYOKE (with twice his usual voice) 

Hide away! hide away! keep still! keep still! 
The soldiers are coming up onto the hill! 
Shoot away! shoot away sharp arrows to kill! 
An arrow's as good as an iron pill ! 

(The shrieking and wailing stops, and all lie low again. 
A young Indian, Takes-his-Shield, tall, calm and resolute, 
moves along among the people, telling them to be calm and 
brave. He comes to Heart-in-the-Lodge, his lover, who is 
wounded.) 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Heart-in-the-Lodge, is this you? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Yes, Takes-his-Shield, and I am wounded. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Why didn't you call for me? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

We must all he hrave. You are fighting for 
the people. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Are you suffering? 

heart-in-the-lodge 
I can hear it. Give me water. Water, Water! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

You are trembling. Are you dying? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

No. I don't know. Water, water! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Ah, there is no water here! 

31 



HEART -IN- T HE-LODGE 

A VOICE 

Yes, down the valley a little there is water. It 
is bad water. The wounded people have been 
crawling to it to drink. 

OLD INDIAN 

Down, down! Something on the north hills 
looks like soldiers. 

SEVERAL VOICES 

Down, down ! All down and still ! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD (sonorously) 

No, I will not down. My wounded lover and all 
the wounded people shall have water from the 
waterspring before they die. 

SEVERAL 

Down, down! Wait a little! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Hark! Hark! A vow has leapt into my heart 
like Life into the earth from the sun. 

WOMAN 

Are you crazy, grandchild? 

OLD INDIAN 

Wait a little, and we will all go. The soldiers 
on the north hills are all gone. They will not come 
again. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Yes, we will all go in a moment, safely. The 
vow in my heart gives me eyes to see in the night. 
Over yonder east of the Gray-stone Hills Valley 
stands an officer. I have vowed to rush upon him 
with my sacred tomahawk and kill him. I have 
given my life a sacrifice for the people. When 
I rush upon him singing the "Self-Sacrifice Song," 
the soldiers will move that way. Then all of you 
will flee away safely. 

32 



HEART -IN- T HE-LODGE 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Oh, do not leave me alone! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Child whom I love (Cinca wastecida) the All- 
Life (Woniya), has made the sacred vow in my 
life, and I cannot call back my vow. And your 
brave heart does not ask me to call back my 
vow. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

No, no! 1 must not, I must not! It would make 
dark shadows forever. Oh-oh-oh! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Come here, Brave-Bear. You and 1 are friends 
by a vow. Take this sacred household turtle 
which you gave me when Heart-in-the-Lodge gave 
me her love. I give this turtle to 3^ou now, and 
with it I give you Heart-in-the-Lodge. Vow to 
me that you will treat her tenderly, and gently 
love her as long as you both are in this life. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE (crying) 

Oh, Takes-his-Shield, what will become of you? 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Since the All-Life (Woniya) came into my 
heart, the earth and the stars are music to me. 
Child whom I love, I shall see you again. Here, 
Brave-Bear, take the turtle and Heart-in-the- 
Lodge. 

(Takes-his-Shield puts the turtle into the right hand of 
Heart-in-the-Lodge and places her hand with the turtle in it 
between the hands of his friend, Brave-Bear, saying:) 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

I give her to you with the vow I lay upon you, 
and with her I give you this sacred household 
turtle. 

BRAVE-BEAR 

Yes, friend. Your voice sounds lo me like the 
voice of Great Spirit. 

33 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD (suddenly) 

All ready! All ready to flee away! Pick up 
the wounded people and be ready! Now is the 
time! My vow is in the strength of Great Spirit! 
When Hiyoke with his ear on the earth hears the 
soldiers moving toward the otlicer where I am 
rushing, then all of you will flee away. Flee 
eastward past the waterspring. Countless dead 
men are here to help us. I see them! I feel their 
strength! All ready, now!! 

(With his sacred tomahawk in hand he rushes away. In a 
moment the people move away' carrjnng their wounded 
friends. Brave-Bear carries Heart-in-the-Lodge on his back, 
as an Indian mother carries her child. But Hiyoke stays be- 
hind and when all are gone, he dances and sings.) 

HIYOKE 

I'll stay behind a little while, and see this conflict 

o'er. 
For my two feet can run a while, and then keep 

running more. 

(Hearing something, and looking, Hiyoke hides behind a 
bush.) 

(An officer and a few attendants with the half-blood inter- 
preter are crossing the scene when tne interpreter stops sud- 
denly and says:) 

IXTERPBETEB 

Hold, there's danger, let us flee! 

OFFICER 

I'll slioot you if you run away. 

IXTERPBETEB 

Listen, listen ! 

OFFK.EB 

What is it? What's the matter? 

IXTEBPBi:.TEB 

He's coming for us! It's worse than a cannon! 

34 



HEART-IN- r HE-LODGE 

OFFICER 

Who's coming? 

SOLDIER 

He means that hidian liowHng like a coyote 
shot tln-ough endwise. 

OFFICER 

Oh, that's it, is it? Well, let him howl. 

SECOND SOLDIER 

Is he crazy, or is he trying to sing a powwow? 

INTERPRETER 

No, No, it's magic, and — 

OFFICER 

Magic! To —11! 

THIRD SOLDIER 

It's the most unearthly thing I've heard in Da- 
kota. 

INTERPRETER 

Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him quick! 

OFFICER 

Where is he, what's he ahout? 

INTERPRETER 

You White people do not understand. He's 
sacrificing himself. 

OFFICER 

All right, let him go ahead, as long as he don't 
sacrifice me. 

INTERPRETER 

He — he is sacrificing himself to bring dead men. 

OFFICER 

Doing what? 

35 



HE ART -IN -THE- LODGE 

IXTERPKETEU 

When an Indian sacrifices liinisclf it brings a 
tliousand dead men to lielp tlieni fight, or get 
away. 

OFFICER 

Well, they better get away, then, if they can, be- 
fore we get them. 

INTERPRETER 

Yes, I know tliat is true among Indians. Look 
out ! 

OFFICER 

The devil! I thought you had some sense and 
a little courage. 

INTERPRETER 

The ghosts are in his song. Slioot him before 
he can see us! 

OFFICER 

What's he singing; can you understand? 

INTERPRETER (intoning) 

He is singing, "The dead men have come to 
help me kill the captain, and help the people get 
away." 

OFFICER 

Oh, that's it. Well, let him come; the nearer 
the better. Is he alone, can you see? 

INTERPRETER 

Yes, he's alone, all but the dead men. 

OFFICER 

The dead men, — 11! What ails you, you act 
sick? 

INTER I>Ri.rER 

He means me, he means me. Indians call the 
interpreter captain, because he is the head man in 
talking with them. 

^ 36 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 



OFFICER 



Well, I'm general here just now, so don't wor- 
ry about being captain till you get a uniform. 

INTERPRETER 

He's almost here, he'll kill me! 

OFFICER 

What's he got for a weapon? Can you see. 

INTERPRETER 

He's got a sacred tomahawk, and it's worse than 
a cannon, when a man's sacrificing himself. 
And, — 

OFFICER 

And what? 

INTERPRETER 

Sometimes that tomahawk flies a mile in the 
air, like a holy rock. 

OFFICER (laughing) 

Now, don't be telling ghost stories. 

INTERPRETER 

Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him ! 

OFFICER 

If any body shoots him, I'll give him the worst 
devil of a licking he ever had in his life. We want 
to catch him, and put him into a museum for a 
specimen. 

INTERPRETER 

His tomahawk will kill me. He almost killed 
me once today. 

OFFICER 

Well, if his tomahawk flies a mile, and kills 
you, we'll put your corpse and the tomahawk and 
the Indian into a museum for choice specimens. 
He has no bow and arrow, has he? 

37 



HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 



INTER PR KTER 



No, the tomahwk, the tomahawlv! And the dead 



men 



OFFICER 



Well, be ready now to catch liini. I can see him, 
he's just here. 

(Takes-his-Shield appears just in sight and throws the tom- 
ahawk, and it kills the officer. Immediately the interpreter 
shoots Takes-his-Shield three times. At first all stand dazed, 
then they roll Takes-his-Shield a little to see that he is dead. 
Then they pick up the officer and carry him away. The in- 
terpreter picks up the sacred tomahawk, saying, "I want this." 

SOLDIER 

Throw away that devilish tomahawk and take 
hold and help carry this man. We want to get 
out of here as quick as God'U let us. 

(Thej- all disappear. Hiyoke peeps a few times, then comes 
out from hehind the hush, looks at Takes-his-Shield compas- 
sionately, then dances and sings.) 

HIYOKE (dancing and singing) 

The fearless fighter, Takes-his-Shield, 
Dressed in an elkskin Indian frock, 
Has showed the White men how to wield 
The sacred Indian tomahawk. 
I saw him fight his battle well, 
I'll tell the people how he died, 
More gleefull}^ than songs can tell. 
Because his wounded lover cried. 

(A couple of guns are heard, and Hiyoke, startled, says, 
"Ugh, whee-e-e !" and darts away like an elk.) 



38 



CURTAIN III 

LESS THAN A MAN- 
MORE THAN A MAN. 

Scene. A grassy meadow l)y the James River, with tall 
trees. Heart-in-the-Lodge lying on a hiiffalo blanket by a 
tree, and women near, one of them fanning her with an eagle- 
wing fan. The Chief and a few old men present. A medicine- 
man is mixing medicine in a wooden medicine-bowl with a 
bone mixer. Rrave-Rear nearby, downcast. Young men en- 
ter, each taking Brave-Bear's hand and saying, "How, Koda," 
while he is silent. (Indian style.) 

HERALD (cheerfully and musically) 

Good luck, good luck! (Wapipi, wapipi). 
Hear the good luck! The watchmen signal from 
the hill. The soldiers are not coming this way. 
Good luck, good luck! 

SEVERAL 

Good! Good! (iood! 

CHIEF TWO-BEARS 

Signal the watchmen to use their eyes intent- 
ly. If the army starts to come, we will flee away. 

HERALD 

Is all well in the camp.^ 

CHIEF 

Yes, yes. As well as we can expect. Poor 
Heart-in-the-Lodge is suffering terrihly. The 
most of the wounded people are getting well, some 
are dying. All are brave. 

SECOND HERALD (excitedly) 

He-e-yu-po! He-e-yu-po! (All startle). Draw 
near! Draw near! and hear the bad luck (woak- 
ipe sica). The watchmen signal from the hills. 

39 



HEART-IN -THE- LODGE 

A WOMAN 

The soldiers! The soldiers! 

SECOND HERALD 

Still! Still! Not the soldiers! Our summer 
home and all we have is leaping up-up-up in flam- 
ing fire and smoke! It is like a yellow sunset 
turned into a fiery cyclone. 

vThis catalog of 'osses which he intones \aries sliglitlv with 
various recitals. It need not l)e staged. It shows the essen- 
tial equivalents of what White people have in a larger and 
possibly better circle of community life. How few things 
the^ have from White men ! \Vhy { They must not offend 
their quaasi overlords, the Tetons, who were maintaining 
the policy of strict isolation from White men, and were of- 
fended at any Indians who allowed themselves to become 
"White-man-ized," "Wiciyela," as tliey called them. What 
wealth, for soul and body health! Half the world is poorer.) 

Their bone and wood field implements are not mentioned; 
they were at their "winter home" on the Missouri River. 

THE CATALOG OF LOSSES 

"Touch-wood" and flints for starting fire. 

Cedar twigs for sacred incense; 
Rone and ash-wood sacred pipes 

Carved with alligators and lizzards; 
Old canes with effigy snakes and toads. 

Household turtles left behind; 
Medicine for charming rattlesnakes. 

Medicine-bowls and rattlesnake tails; 
Stone spades and knives and saws and hoes. 

Shell dishes and stone arrowheads; 
Dance moccasins, belts, breast-bands, head-bands. 

Dance slippers scented with perfume; 
Rone needles, awls and digging sticks. 

Medicine mixers, lances for sores; 
Rone knives and forks for eating food. 

Shell knives for skinning animals; 
Playthings, hoops ^and balls for games. 

Stones, bones and sticks to gamble wilii; 
Good-luck journey moccasins. 

Rawhide harnesses for dogs; 
40 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

Kffigy l)ear and buffalo stone pipes, 

Sinew-made halters, ropes and thread; 
(Ju ill-ornamented pony bridles. 

Bone and wooden saddles; 
Karthen dishes, shell ladles, horn spoons, 

Wooden washdishes and scrubbing stones; 
Braided l)ags and sacks and baskets. 

Braided swinging baliy cradles; 
Tomtoms, ottertail strings for hair. 

Wing-fans whicli make holy shadows; 
Brushes, brooms, whips, sweetgrass mats. 

Yucca-leaf braided hats and caps; 
Yucca-root soap for washing hair. 

Head combs with ornaments ; 
Cat-tail pollen whicn mothers use 

To wrap their tiny Ijabies in; . 
Sacred bearclaws to protect the home, 

Sacred elks' teeth for good luck; 
Pumice-stones for rubbing bowstrings. 

Bones for straightening arrow-shafts; 
Grindstones for linives and hoes and axes. 

Grindstones for pointing arrow-heads; 
The ornamented buffalo-skin tents. 

Long Black Hills pine tentpoles; 
Valices, sewing-bags, wallets, trunks. 

The childrens' playful whirligigs; 
Piles of pemmican sausage and buffalo fat, 

Piles and piles of dried buffalo meat; 
Quill-worked buffalo blankets and beds. 

Quill-worked dance buffalo blankets; 
Quill-worked deerskin and elkskin quilts. 

Soft-tanned quill-worked womens' shawls; 
Paints, paint-dishes to make faces fair, 

Shell neck-chains for ornaments; 
Womens' red and blue and white breastplates. 

Quill-ornamented womens' sashes; 
Wing-bone whistles, box elder flutes. 

Ointments to make the muscles strong; 
Bows, arrows, tomahawks, spears, 

F'lint fleshers and scrapers for tanning skins; 
Tanned buffalo skins to sell to traders. 

Piles of other animals' skins; 

41 



HE ART -IN -THE- LODGE 

Skill buckets, kettles and l)ladcler bags. 

Ten clumsy whitenien's iron kettles: 
Dried plums, wild seeds and grains for soups, 

Nuts, dried herbs and turnips and cherries; 
Elkskin pants and coats and shirts. 

Dance elkskin pants with rosebud beads; 
Elkskin jackets, chemise and skirts. 

Women's leggings with White men's ])eads; 
Young dogs too small to follow us. 

Their faithful mothers dying with them. 
(Singing) All, all ihat could not leap away 

Is leaping up in tlames of fire. 

(The women start a wailing. Hij^oke, true to his duty to 
stem the tide of woe with wisdom and comedy, leaps to his 
feet, dancing and singing.) 

HIYOKE (with many gestures) 

Look, look! the shirt I gambled for 

Is dancing gaily in the smoke. 
It sings a song, "The soul of war 

Will help us if we laugh and joke." 

(Men shout. How, how how. Women try to laugh with 
their eyes while crying with their faces.) 

Oh look! my sister's elkskin skirt 

Is gaily dancing higher, higher. 
Her skirt is jolly with my shirt. 

And both are laughing in the fire. 

(Hiyoke starts a "Sacred Fire Song," and the peoi)le join, 
while the tomtom gives two soft beats for each half-line. 
There is a sharp stop at the end of each half-line.) 

The sacred fire — the sacred fire — 
Wafting souls — of creatures liigher — 
Makes them pure — like Life, the Sire — 

(Woniya) 
Ha-lia the fire — the sacred fire. 

(Hiyoke continues with much comedy in tones and ges- 
tures.) 

42 



HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Brave men will not be crying 

For their pants and their shirts. 
Brave men will not be sighing 

When the angry arrow hurts; 
The women's tearful crying 

Makes it rain and makes it dark, 
The women gaily laughing. 

Bring the singing meadowlark. 

(The drum strikes two heavy three-stroke heats for hravery, 
and the people shout, Well done, well done! Tanyan, tan- 
yan ! There is a general stirring among the people, with 
quite cheerful faces. A few old men enter and one of them 

says: ) 

OLD INDIAN 

The wounded i)eople feel better since they hear 
the music. How is Heart-in-the-Lodge, is she get- 
ting better? 

WOMAN 

The tomtom and the singing make her face look 
brighter. 

OTHER WOMAN 

The medicine men have got the iron-hummer 
out of her breast. 

OLD INDIAN 

Is the wound bad? 

MEDICINE-MAN 

No, the wound is not bad. Her mind is strange. 

WOMAN 

Her mind is miraculous. It is tipped over bot- 
tom side up, you know. (lye tawacin kaptain, ye.) 

MEDICINE-MAN 

Her other self, her spirit self, is over-leaping 
her mind and her body, you know. If her other 
self gets full and strong control, you know how 
it will be. Heart-in-the-Lodge, her other self, her 

43 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

sweet self will be in the dead men's country, and 
her body self which we call Heart-in-the-Lodge, 
will be here with the people, always trying to find 
Takes-his-Shield, her lover, till she goes to the 
other life (Unnia wiconi.) 

OLD INDIAN 

Poor child! 

MEDICINE-MAN 

Sleep is what she needs. I have given her an 
herb. I hope she will sleep. 

A WOMAN 

She does not sleep. She dreams, then she rises 
up and cries out, singing, "He is coming! He is 
coming, I see him coming, over the hills, over the 
hills." Then she falls back onto the bed and 
dreams again. 

OTHER WOMAN 

She throws out her arms like this, and she 
sings, "You have come, oh, you have come, and 
my heart is full of joy." Then she smiles and 
folds her arms across her breast like this. Then 
she dreams again. 

OLD INDIAN 

Perhaps Takes-his-Shield is not dead. He may 
be there alone suifering, longing to come to her. 
And so his other self comes here, and she can see 
him, you know, the same as a man on a journey 
homeward bound, longs to get home, and his oth- 
er self outspecds his body, and they see him at 
home two or three days before he gets home. 

MEDICINE-MAN 

Hiyoke saw him die, and he has made a song 
for the people, to celebrate his bravery. 

44 • 



H E ART -I N-T HE-LODGE 



HIYOKE (singing) 

I saw him iight, I saw him die. 

One iroii-hiimmer pierced his breast. 

One iron-hummer l)roke his tliigh. 
He's dead; his spirit is at rest. 

HEART-I\-THE-LODGE (rising up on tlie bed and singing) 

He has come to me singing a song 

In tlie meadowlarlv's musical strain. 
And tlie winter was, oh, so long. 

Till the meadowlark brought him again. 

Ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha, 

Ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha- (shuddering) 

U-ugh, Takes-his-Shield, your hands are so cold! 

Grandmother, make a tu'e, and let him warm his 

hands. 

A HERALD 

He-yu-po! He-yu-po! Takes-his-Shield is 
coming right here, or else one of his spirits is com- 
ing. 

(Takes-his-Shield glides in. Heart-in-the-Lodge leai)s from 
the bed and they embrace fondly liy taking each other's hands 
and dancing gleefully. The people sway and the tomtom 
beats in harmony with their dancing.) 

HIYOKE (singing) 

If he's alive Hiyoke's dead; 
He scares me so I've lost my head — 
And was it I who bled and died, 
And he has come to claim his bride? 

(The people laugh at Hiyoke, and some cry out.) 
SEVERAL 

The-man-always-afraid ! (Wakokipe-wicasa) ! 

GRANDMOTHER 

Heart-in-the-Lodge, lie down on the bed and 
rest. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

What for. Grandmother, it is not night yet. 
Don't make me go to bed in the davtime, 

45 



HEART-IN-THE- LODGE 

GRANDMOTHER 

Grandchild, you are sick. Lie down and rest. 

HEART-IX-THE-LOI)GE 

Why, Grandmother, I know when I'm sick. I 
feel like dancing, don't make me go to bed. 

A vVOMAN 

Child, they have been doctoring you all night. 

HEAirr-lX-THE-LODGE 

What for? See how well 1 am. (She dances.) 

GRAXDxMOTHER 

Child, obey your grandnH)ther, and sit down 
here. 

HEART-IX-THE-LODGE 

Yes, Grandmother. 

(Heart-in-the-Lodge and Takes-his-Shield sit down side by 
side on the l)uffalo l)lanket.) 

MEDK:IXE-MAX (passing a small howl of medicine) 

Here, drink tliis. You and Takes-his-Shield, 
drink it. 

HEART-IX-THE-LODGE 

Don't make me drink medicine. Uncle. Is it 
bitter? Here, Takes-his-Shield, you drink it for 
me. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

I will let the Earth, our mother, drink it for 
the health of the people. (He Pours it out.) 

^iEDKJXE-MAX 

They are just now coming with the tomtom. 
They will make a wa-pee-ya for you and for 
Takes-his-Shield. 

46 • 



HEART -IN- r HE-LODGE 

HEART-IX-THE-LODGE 

No, don't make the wa-pec-ya for me. I am 
not sick. I am as well as a meadow, full of buf- 
falo and elks and brooks and singing meadow- 
larks. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

The sacred wa-pee-ya of the people, with the 
voice of the tomtom reaching far aw^ay, and sing- 
ing that comes from the heart echoing over the 
hills, is good for well peo])le and for sick people. 
It helps the living men and it helps the dead men. 
And all my heart is full of joy to her the wa- 
pee-ya of our people once more. It will strength- 
en me for the long journey. 

HI YOKE (quickly) 

Long journey, what? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Back to our winter home on the Missouri river. 

HIYOKE (approaching Takes-his-Sliield) 

Friend, tell me truly, is this your grave-spirit, 
or your tent-spirit, or your journey spirit, or your 
dead self, or your body self, or your other self? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Why, this is Takes-his-Shield. Have you for- 
gotten him? 

(The pLMjple laugh at Hiyoke and he is perplexed.) 
TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Look at me and see wdiat I am. Hi^^oke's poet 
eyes can see things inside out, and bottom side 
up. Hiyoke knows what a man is better than a 
man knows himself. Do I look strange? 

HIYOKE 

My mind and my eyes are tied up in a loop. 1 
saw you die and 1 have made a song to celebrate 
your bravery. 

47 



HEART -IN- T HE-LODGE 

takes-his-shii:li) 
Save the song till I am gone awaj^ somewhere. 

( The people laugh.) 

HIYOKE (singing dizzily) 

You are less than a man. 

You are more than a man. 
And by straining my eyesight 

The most that I can, 
I cannot explain 

The mysterious plan 
Of the shadows that follow 

An eagle- wing fan. 

(Ihe people laugh at Hiyoke and the tomtom is tapped in- 
dicating that he is sick and needs a wa-pee-ya.) 

HIYOKE 

I never felt so sick before. I will lie down. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

His fear makes him sick; he needs the w^a-pee- 

HEART-IX-THE-LODGE (laughing 

Yes, make the wa-pee-ya for Hiyoke. He needs 
it, and we do not need it. (Laughter.) 

SEVERAL 

How, how, how, make the wa-pee-ya for Hi- 
yoke, the poet. 

(The tomtom heats lustily one long three short notes. The 
singers emphatically and melodiously intone the) 

"Hi, Hi-hi-hi-i, Hi, hi-lii-hi-i. 
Hi, hi-hi-hi-i. Hi, hi-hi-hi-i.'^ 

(The key is quasi minor in keeping with the 6-note scale of 
the Hunk-pa-ti Indians. The lines are repeated any numher 
of times, a falling tone at the end of each line, and with 
varying pitch and tone in each line. The people join in 
emphasizing the rythm of the music with elastic movements 
of chest and hody. A few dance on their feet. Hiyoke gets 
up and walks dizzily.) 

4S 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

MEDICINE-MAN 

Hiyokc, how are you feeling now? 

HIYOKE (trying to sing) 

My head is whirling 

Like treetops in a cyclone, 
My heart is hurling 

Itself against my hreast-hone. 

MEDICINE-MAN 

Why, you are better; you are well; you can sing. 

HIYOKE 

No better, no better. 

I feel so sick I cannot smile, 

I cannot put away my fears; 
My mother, rock me for awhile. 

And bathe my cheeks in your kind tears. 

(He staggers into his mother's arms, and she and his annt 
lead him out.) 

MEDICINE-MAN 

The-mind-tipped-over (tawacin kaptan) is gen- 
erally a woman's disease, but Hiyoke has got it 
as bad as any woman I ever saw. He has no dis- 
ease in his body. 

(The people laugh, and the tomtom is tapped.) 
HERALD 

Listen! Listen! The watchmen signal from the 
hills. When our young men go too near trying 
to pick up the wounded men, women and child- 
ren, the soldiers shoot at them, l)ut no one has 
been killed yet. 

CHIEF 

Tell them not to go too near. Tell them not to 
make the soldiers angry. How many of our peo- 
ple are now missing? 

HERALD 

Six hundred and eighty-two. 

49 



HEART -IN- T HE-LODGE 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Missing? So many of our people missing? What 
is the matter? I thouglit Takes-his-Sliicld was 
the only one missing. 

A WOMAN 

Child, there was a battle yesterday. 

HEART-L\-THE-LODGE (sobbing) 

I just begin to remember it. 

CHIEF 

The missing people are not all killed. Seven 
families have just come into camp. Many more 
will come in. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

How many wounded people have been brought 
in? 

CHIEF 

Forty-eight men, women and children. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Fort^^-eight of our people wounded? Where 
are they? 1 will go and help take care of them. 
(She starts.) 

GRANDMOTHER 

No, stay here. They are taking care of the 
wounded ones. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Why do the soldiers want to kill our people? 

CHIEF 

They want revenge for what the Santees did in 
Minnesota. The Santees killed White women and 
children in Minnesota, and so the White soldiers 
do not spare Indian women and children any- 
where. The Santees got across the river and es- 
caped. The anger in the White men's hearts must 
be satisfied, and so they came here to kill us. 

50 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Will they follow us and kill us all? 

CHIEF 

We hope to make peace with them some way. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

How can the old men make peace with men so 
full of wicked thoughts? 

CHIEF 

The Santees tell us we shall have to give them 
all our land. When a Teton is angry a feast and 
a present cures his heart. When White men are 
angry no tiling will cure their hearts but giving 
them the land. This beautiful land, our summer 
home, from the Gray-stone Hills to the James Riv- 
er, we must give to the White men, and leave it 
forever. And we must give them our land along 
the Missouri River, as much as they want. When 
the White men get all the earth, they will fence it 
in to keep Great Spirit and the dead men out of 
it. 

(Brave-Bear approaches Takes-his-Shield and Heart-in-the- 
Lodge.) 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Why here comes Rrave-Bear. I remember now, 
he brought me away from the battle last night as 
tenderly as my mother carried me when I was a 
child. Are you offended for that, Takes-his- 
Shield? 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

He and I are friends by a vow. Is not a man's 
friend one of his spirits? Is he not the same to 
3^ou as I am? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE (taking Brave-Bear's left hand in both 
her hands and crying) 

Last night he was two of your spirits to me, 
your grave spirit and your journey spirit. (Kissing 
his hand). How good you were to me! Was I 
heavy? 

51 



HE ART -IN -THE- LODGE 



BRAVE-BEAR 

No, you were not heavy, but my own feet got 
so lieavy that I had to rest a few times by the 
trail. My friend, Takes-his-Sliield, liere is tlie 
sacred turtle you gave me last night. I now give 
back to you this turtle, and my vow, and Heart- 
in-the-Lodge. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

What? Why? Can a man give back, or take 
back, his vow? 

BRAVE-BEAR 

Your vow was made for death, when you made 
a sacrifice of yourself for the people. You have 
come back to the people alive, so take back the 
vow. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Death and life are oue, when a man has seen 
both of them. Give the turtle to Heart-in-the- 
Lodge when you marry her. 

HEART-I\-THE-LODGE (startled) 

No, give the turtle to Grandmother. 

GRANDMOTHER 

To me! Me a bride? Children and grandchil- 
dren for me? The sacred turtle's good luck for a 
maiden is no more for her grandmother. 

HEART-IX-THE-LODGE (startled) 

Oh no, foolishness, foolishness! What is the 
matter witli me? No, it can't be! 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Child whom 1 love, there is a good thought in 
your mind. Tell out the good thought, and do not 
hide it. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

I don't know. No, no, I am confused. 

52 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

BKAVE-BEAK 

A thought like the morning star is in the mind 
of Heart-in-the-Lodge. Let the thought arise out 
of your mind, as the morning star arises out of 
the earth. 

A WOMAN 

Let the thought come out of your mind as a bird 
comes out of an egg, tlien it will fly away and be 
happy. 

BRAVE-BEAR 

You know what the old people say: 
"A thought that will not break the egg 
And fly away on high. 
Is like a warrior with one leg. 
Who cannot fight or fly." 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE (nervously) 

Grandmother, what shall 1 do. 

GRANDMOTHER 

The first prairie rose said, "If I come up out 
of the earth. Whirlwind will blow out my life." 
But when Whirlwind came to her, he said, "It is 
not in my heart to blow out the life of the little 
girl with a sweet breath, and a bright dress." And 
that was the beginning of beauty in the land. Let 
the thought come up out of your mind, if it is 
new and bright. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE (sobbing) 

They will scold me. Oh, let me sleep and dream 
first, then — perhaps, 

GRANDMOTHER 

Remember the old song (singing) : 
"Sleeping makes a bright thought dull. 
It kills the grain and leaves the hull. 
Dreaming makes a dull thought bright. 

And gives it wings for morning tlight." 
If the thought is dark in your mind, dream over 
it. If it is new and bright, let it fly away. 

53 



HEART -IN- T HE-LODGE 



HEAKT-lX-TIiE-LODGK 



I thought — I tliouglit — A man in our trihe some- 
times has two wives, (crying) and wliy can't a 
maid liave two liusbands? (Slie cries bitterly.) 



GRANDMOTHER 

Oli-o-o-o, Gliild! You sliould have dreamed 
over tliat tliought for a liundred moons! Such a 
strange tiling was never heard of among our peo- 
ple! 

(With her hand she throws her long loose hair forward 
over her face and cries pitifully.) 

BRAVE-BEAR 

Here, my friend, take back the sacred turtle. 
Your hesitation gives the poor child this pain. 

TAKES-HIS-SHIELD 

Friend Brave-Bear, always truthful like the sa- 
cred pipe, you are doing this out of the honesty 
in your mind, not out of the feeling in your heart. 
(Rising to his feet) A vow is sacred in life and in 
death. I have seen both. In the dead men's 
country I saw people who think they are still 
here in our Dakota country. The sacred wa-pee- 
ya did not make their minds clear at the moment 
when they were going away from us, and so they 
are confused. But they can still hear the music 
of the wa-pee-ya softly and faintly, and it is cur- 
ing them. And some people who think they are 
here in our Dakota country, are really in the dead 
men's country. It bothers them to live by our 
Dakota customs. We blame them and call them in- 
efficient (hunke-sni), and they themselves do not 
know what is the matter with them. As I was 
coming back from the dead men's country, I met 
an old Uncle who went to the dead men's country 
long before our people came here to our Dakota 
country. He told me what to do, and he had me 
vow to do it. He told me to go on a journey far 
Northwest, the same as men in our tribe went on 

54 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

long journeys in the old times before White men 
came to this island to bother the people. He said 
my journey would last for many moons, and 
perhaps I would never come back to my people 
in this life. (Heart-in-the-Lodge fondling and 
kissing his right hand and crying). Sweet child 
whom I love, I am sure the sacred goodness (Mak- 
piyate Wowaste) in your virgin heart does not 
wish to hold me back from the vow which the old 
Uncle in the other life laid upon me. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE (convulsively weeping) 

I must not! I must not! It would make dark 
shadows follow us both forever. 

(With a quick movement of the head assisted by the hands 
she clears the hair from lier face and rises up saying:) 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Come wdth me, come with me, we will go and 
help take care of the wounded people. May I go, 
Grandmother? 

GRANDMOTHER 

Yes, but do not tell any more of your thoughts. 
(She leaves followed by Brave-Bear and Takes - 
his-Shield.) 

OLD BLIND HERALD (led by the child as formerly, and in- 
toning) 

He-yu-po! He-yu-po! Good luck! Good luck! 
Great Spirit is helping us, we shall not starve! The 
morning was cold, the night dark, but the noon- 
tide sun in my face is warm and cheerful. Great 
Spirit is with us, have no fear! We have some 
food! We have some food! Be merry and eat 
the food! Give thanks and eat the food! The 
hunters are returning to camp with buffalo meat! 
The tribe will feast in a circle, roasting their meat 
on the sacred embers in the old-time way. Let 

55 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

us be merry, let us be pious as our fathers were 
in the old times! First of all, before an^^ man 
eats meat or tastes of meat, make buffalo meat 
soup for the wounded people and the old people 
and the sick people! First of all, first of all, re- 
member the helpless people ! 

HIYOKE (who has reappeared, dancing and singing) 

Give Hi^^oke the singer a buffalo hump. 
Let him roast it on embers, don't make it in soup; 
For there's joy in his heartbeats, instead of a 
thump. 

When he eats with his tribesmen, who eat in a 

group. 
The glad tone of the tomtom is curing his mind. 
And the tone of the singing is soothing his fears; 
And he tells you the Summer-god (Mdoketu), 

loving and kind. 
Will restore to his tribesmen the life-giving years. 

(The tomtom is given 3-note heavy equal taps.) 
THE PEOPLE 

How, how, how, SO let it be ! (He-ecetu-ye-do.) 

HERALD (with a starling, musical tone) 

Ho-o-o ! Ho-o-o ! 

THE PEOPLE 

What? What is it? 

HERALD (musically) 

Takes-his-Shield has gone away miraculously. 

THE PEOPLE 

Where, where? 

HERALD (musically) 

Over the hills, over the hills, away, away! 

56 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

CHIEF 

Did he bid the people good-bye? 

HERALD (musically) 

A whisper to Heart-in-the-Lodge, away, away! 

GRANDMOTHER 

Where is Heart-in-the-Lodge? 

HERALD (intoning) 

She looked and wept, and when she started to 
follow him, the women caught her and held her 
back. 

SEVERAL 

Here she comes! Here she comes! 

(As she is rushing across the stage women seize her.) 
riEART-lN-THE-LODGE 

Let me go ! Let me go ! 

WOMAN 

Listen, listen! Stay here with your people! 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Let go of me! Look! See him! Let me follow 
him! 

CHIEF 

Child your feet cannot follow him, he speeds 
away like the ghost of an elk. 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Call a meadowlark to help me fly, ha-ha-ha, ha- 
ha-ha ! 

GRANDMOTHER 

Child, obey your Grandmother and stay here. 

57 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

HEART-L\-THE-LODGE 

My heart is bad, you scold me lately! Let me 
go! I will go! 

GRANDMOTHER 

Sweet Child, remember the sacred law, and 
obey yom- Grandmother. Stay here! 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

Get away from me! Let go of me! 
Look, look, he is gone, he is gone! 
The shadow-men with him are gone ! 
Their footsteps in the zephyrs are gone! 
Grandmother, fan me, my breath is gone! 
It is cold, it is dark ! Grandmother help me ! 
Grandmother, make a fire; I am freezing! 
Grandmother, Grandmother, where are you? 

GRANDMOTHER 

This is your grandmother, do you see her? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE 

No. 

GRANDMOTHER (kissing her) 

Do you know her kiss? 

HEART-IN-THE-LODGE (smiling) 

Yes. I am tired. I want to rest. 

GRANDMOTHER 

Sweet Grandchild, come with me. I will find 
a place in the shadow of a tree where you can 
rest till the soldiers are gone. 

(The women lead her away.) 

HIYOKE (singing) 

If he'd staid for the feast 

And bidden her goodbye. 
She could bear it at least. 

When her heart heaves a sigh. 

58 



HEART -IN -T HE-LODGE 

(Note: Indians wish this song inserted here. I said: "It 
lacks the true Hiyoke tone." They answered, "Hiyoke had not 
recovered from his tawacin kaptan fully.") 

OLD INDIAN 

See, see the toad! 

SEVERAL 

Where, where? 

OLD INDIAN 

Hopping along, hopping along. 

A WOMAN 

She is lost. The home of the toads is down the 
river, over the hills. 

A WOMAN 

She must have come for something. What does 
it mean? 

A WOMAN 

I want the toad. My mother's wound is bad. 

A WOMAN 

My uncle's wound is sore and aching. 

CHIEF 

Young men have gone to the home of the toads. 
They will soon come back with a plenty of toads 
to suck the poison from many wounds, and kiss 
away the pain. 

A WOMAN 

Oh, see how large she is. 

A WOMAN 

And see how old she is! Her face has a hun- 
dred wrinkles. 

59 



HEART -IN-THE-LODGE 

A WOMAN 

And see how coiiipassionatc (waonsida) her 
eyes are. 

AN OLD WOMAN 

Why, this is the grandmother toad! 

THE PEOPLE 

How, how, the grandmother toad! 

A CHILD 

Where did the grandmotlier toad come from? 

OLD L\DL\\ 

She has her liome in tlie eartli under a hill. 

AN OLD WOMAN 

Her house is huilt of sparkling jewels, red, yel- 
low, green and blue, like the rainbow. 

AN OLD WOMAN 

I saw her once before when I was a little girl. 

A WOMAN 

She must have come for something important. 

HIYOKE (singing) 

Takes-his-Shield has sent her here 
To cure his lover's aching breast: 
Because he holds her ever dear, 
Wherever he may roam or rest. 

THE PEOPLE 

How, how, how, that is it. He has sent her. 

CHIEF 

Where is Heart-in-the-Lodge? 

MEDICINE-MAN 

She is over yonder in the sliadow of a tree, cov- 
ered up with blankets, in a deep, deep sleep. The 
noise of manv battles would not awaken her now. 



R D «« 1 4: 8 ^ 



HE ART -IN -THE -LODGE 

BRAVE-BEAR (with a trembling voice) 

1 am not unmindful of the many wounded people, 
but, oh I do want the grandmother toad for 
Heart-in-the-Lodge. 

THE PEOPLE 

How, how, how, that is right. 

MEDICINE-MAN 

The women will place the grandmother toad 
on the poor child's breast. Then if she awakens 
from her deep sleep in the morning, her wound 
will be well, her mind will be cured, and we shall 
have the chidren and grandchildren of Heart-in- 
the-Lodge in the tribe. If she does not awaken 
from her sleep, the grandmother toad will guide 
her to the place where Takes-his-Shield, her lov- 
er, has gone. 

(The medicine man gives the grandmother toad to Brave- 
Bear in a medicine bowl, and he carries her away^ while the 
tomtom beats softly and the people sing.) 

THE PEOPLE 

The grandmother toad 
Has full many a jewel, 
The red and the yellow, 
The green and the blue; 
And when you are sad 
And this life is most cruel, 
The grandmother toad 
Has a jewel for you. 

(Note: An old Indian digging coal, thrust the bar, a sharp- 
ened steel gunbarrel, into a seam, prying it up, and out came 
a large toad. The bar had wounded the head of the toad 
and some blood was manifest. The Indian cried bitterly. 
Then, as an offering, he took from his own neck a beautiful 
sacred elk's tooth and tied it onto the neck of the toad.) 



61 



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